Larry Sanders assigned to Fort Wayne of the D-League

The Milwaukee Bucks have assigned rookie forward Larry Sanders to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants (Indiana) of the NBA Development League (D-League), General Manager John Hammond announced today. Fort Wayne is led by Head Coach Joey Meyer, who previously coached the Bucks D-League affiliate in Tulsa. Sanders will meet with the team today in Fort Wayne and his first game with the Mad Ants will be Tuesday against Springfield.

“This is an opportunity for Larry to receive regular minutes and continue his skill development,” Hammond said. “We’re looking forward to seeing his progress as he works with Coach Meyer and his Fort Wayne teammates.”

Sanders, 22, was drafted by the Bucks with the 15th overall selection out of Virginia Commonwealth University in the 2010 NBA Draft. He has appeared in 36 games this season (eight starts) and averaged 4.1 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.2 blocks. He is tied for the NBA single-game high of eight blocks this season and his 44 blocks leads all first-year players.

Due to an illness, back spasms and a tightened rotation, Sanders has played in just three of the Bucks past 10 games. His most productive outing during that period was the Bucks final game before the All-Star break against the Denver Nuggets. In six minutes, Sanders dunked twice, scored on a layup and grabbed two rebounds.

He is the first Bucks player to be assigned to the D-League this season. Last season Milwaukee assigned Joe Alexander to the D-League, only to trade him weeks later as apart of the deal to acquire John Salmons. No other Bucks players have been assigned to the D-League under the current regime.

Jeremy Schmidt writes the Milwaukee Bucks blog Bucksketball.com. Follow him on Twitter. Then become a fan on Facebook (in the sidebar).

8 Comments

I think they could’ve given him more minutes at the NBA level. Obviously he’s not an all-star but just as obviously he can contribute. I know that this usually starts an argument, but I think it’s the coach’s bias to rookies. When he’s on the floor I’m excited to watch, can’t say that for most of the other players on the team.

@Bizzucks
I would say I think he has a tendency not to play those he feels aren’t completely aware of what they are supposed to be doing defensively. Being out of position, taking chances, those kinds of things will lead a man to the bench on a Scott Skiles coached team.

This move makes little to no sense. With the towel basically thrown in on the season, now is the time to start playing Sanders more in the NBA, not in the D-League!

Who exactly plays center on this team? Bogut? Some nights, perhaps. Gooden? No, and he never will! Brockman? I’m sorry, but I can’t even say that with a straight face. Ilyasova? Folks, he’s a small forward, a la Kirilenko in Utah.

Sigh. The Bucks recurrent case of CWD is all too apparent again this year. Time to start the firings and the inevitable dismantling.

(And wasn’t it a great move that Nobody’s Senator signed Scott Skiles to a contract extension before he actually did anything this year, and not after.)

I actually think this might be a good idea. One of Larry Sanders’ biggest problems is that he doesn’t have a lot of basketball experience, not NBA experience, flat out basketball experience. This could give him more of a chance to get a much better feel of the game.

Gotta agree with Bizzucks and F League here. Not saying the season is completely dead, but let’s not pretend like this guy has nothing to add. You can’t convince me Sanders doesn’t have more to add than Jon Brockman.

On another note, I thought the Bucks D-League affiliate is the Tulsa 66ers. I could go watch the guy then.

I think this is a bad move. Give him Brockman’s minutes. He needs to play at a NBA level, not a intermediate college/NBA level. He’s admitted that that’s been the biggest challenge with the bigger NBA players. Guys are smaller in the D-League. The seasons screwed anyways… I don’t agree with this.